


Easy Fix

by Sofiel



Series: Papa Tony Doesn't Know Best [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, Families of Choice, Father-Son Relationship, Fatherhood, Friendship, Gen, Gen Fic, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-10-14
Updated: 2013-02-16
Packaged: 2017-11-16 06:57:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/536736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sofiel/pseuds/Sofiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony finds a baby in an abandoned house. Rhodey has to get used to the idea that Tony gets what he wants, even if that means a crying toddler that has an unusual obsession with blueberries and the glow of the arc reactor. Pepper is still trying to figure out how 'fixing War Machine' turned into an adoption and an almost international incident.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In which Tony crashes to the ground

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this at midnight while suffering through really bad lady problems. Any and all grammatical, spelling, timeline errors are my own. This might be considered crack. I'm not even sorry for it.
> 
> Also, Pepper and Tony aren't exactly together in this fic. On and off kinda thing.

Tony didn’t expect much when he decided that he was going to fix the thrusters on the War Machine. He was in the UK for a meeting with a company that wanted to merge with Stark Industries, possibly for phone production or a new better tablet, and all that talking had bored him. Rhodey had been in RAF Northolt showing some of the squadrons flight maneuvers with the War Machine.

The minute that Tony figured out where exactly Rhodey was he quickly told his presentation of what he wanted from the company and what the company was going to be like and just as quickly said his goodbyes and made Happy drive him to Northolt. This time he made sure that the Mark V was with _him_ instead of with Happy—just in case there was _another_ psychopath trying to kill him… _again_. The thought of being able to tinker with something mechanical, after a week of meetings and bigwigs trying to get him to sign contracts, was more exciting at the time than the thought of possible psychos out to kill him.

A call to the base ten minutes from reaching them quickly got Tony inside. He would have just used the suit except that he’d probably need Happy to pick him up from wherever he stopped—or crash-landed at. Rhodey met him at the gates; scowl in place and with his arms crossed. Tony grinned and embraced his best friend while leading him towards where he could see the War Machine on a table, wires and guns peeping out of corners.

“Looks like you need a little help with your—“ Tony pointed awkwardly towards the table then over to Rhodey. He already had a screwdriver in one hand, the Mark V swinging back and forth in his other. “Looks like you could do with a little boost in speed,” he mumbled as he poked around wires and made sure that everything was where it was supposed to be. After the whole Justin Hammer retouching the Mark II with ridiculously subpar weaponry he was just a little iffy about letting the US air force have anything else of his. Even if it was just faster thrusters.

There were people around him, pilots by the looks of their jumpsuits, and Rhodey would occasionally make a noise when the War Machine sparked. His best friend mostly ignored him, used to Tony getting into his headspace when it came to robots and electronics.

“Mr. Stark, are you coming along with Col. Rhodes in the flight maneuvers?” a kid, probably no older than twenty, asked while Tony tried to link two wires that would finally trigger the extra boost for the thrusters.

“Yes—“

“No.”

“Yes,” Tony repeated again as he pushed Rhodey aside. “You have open air space?”

“There’s this abandoned borough we go to in Surrey so that we don’t disturb anyone during flight maneuvers. It was abandoned like thirteen years ago during the terrorists attack that were going on,” the kid said, looking like he was going to start talking about the most amazing thing ever. “No one ever moved back in once it was evacuated and everyone that tried always said that the entire place was haunted so they never went back. We’ve checked the entire place top to bottom but no one’s ever been found.”

“If it’s abandoned why would there be people there?” Tony asked with a raised brow. “Did you check for Casper and friends while you were there?”

“Tony, you’re not going,” Rhodey nearly growled and the kid quickly stood at attention and quickly moved away from them. “This a serious flight maneuver not a—a,” he tried to find a word that could clearly describe what Tony would probably make of the flight maneuvers once they were out in the air. Knowing Tony he’d start fireworks or knowing him, _actually_ manage to find a person in the abandoned site and end up getting _himself_ blown up.

“Ready to go, Rhodes?” Tony asked, slapping Rhodey’s shoulder and jogging over to the Mark V locked to a support pillar and a D-ring. He opened up the suitcase and quickly jammed on the gauntlets. The suit was already folding around his legs and the helmet was just about to close down over Tony’s face before Rhodey could get another word in.

The pilots and airmen around the base seemed to appear out of the cracks as soon as the helmet managed to cover Tony’s face. There were some whispered exclamations from the assembled people but no one actually came any closer.

 **“The Mark V is not made for flight,”** Tony’s slightly robotic voice said to Rhodey. “But it should get me to where you’re going.”

Rhodey rolled his eyes and made his way to the War Machine. Outside choppers were being initiated and the airmen were rushing out of the room to get into choppers and be part of the flight maneuvers.

*

They were in the air for an hour when Rhodey called up Tony to tell him that they were going to be making a loop around to go back to the base.

 **“Tony, we’ll be making another flythrough and then going back to the base,”** Rhodey said through their communicator.

Tony stared at his HUD and the display showing him where the four Westland Gazelles were flying around him and Rhodey, occasionally reporting to Tony and Rhodey where to go and what to do. The HUD flickered and Tony frowned.

 **“JARVIS, is there magnetic or electrical interference?”** Tony asked. The HUD flickered again and JARVIS’ voice garbled for a second before Tony felt freefall. **“JARVIS? I’m falling,”** Tony said casually as he tried to get the HUD to light up again but his suit wasn’t responding to him. He barely heard Rhodey’s muffled scream from above him before his metal clad body crashed through wood, plaster, and cement.

He didn’t manage to arrest his fall at all bar it hitting his body on what looked like a railing and then falling down a flight of stairs. The suit provided enough cushioning that his bones weren’t broken in any way and that his arms and leg didn’t end up in odd angles. Most importantly it kept his head safe and from possible brain damage, there was a big possibility that he’d get a concussion from that far a fall as well as from his trip down the stairs.

 **“Owww,”** he moaned once he reached the bottom of the stairs and tried to get up in his unresponsive suit. **“Rhodey, you there?”**

He got no response from his radio.

“Boo.”

Tony’s head swiveled around to stare at where the sound was coming from. His arms hurt as he brought them up to the sides of his neck and manually tried to unlatch the faceplate. The faceplate clicked in protest when Tony wrenched at it and finally managed to get the faceplate to move forward and then up.

“Boo.”

Tony stared at his legs dangling over the lower two steps and then over to his left where he could barely see a small door open under the stairs. A shadow was moving to the left and then the right of the door and Tony frowned as he sat up and clanked his metal boots to the floor.

“Boo!”

The shout that time had been enough to turn Tony around so that his arc reactor shined over the shadows by the door under the stairs. There was a toddler by the door of what looked like a closet. A toddler that was smiling brightly and pointing in delight at Tony.

“Boo.”

“Yes, it’s blue,” Tony managed to reply as he sat up and just stared into a pale face lit up by the blue of his arc reactor. “Who are you?”

“A-wee,” the toddler said and stepped forward on unsteady chubby legs. “Oo boo?”

“I’m Tony,” Tony said and looked up at the ceiling and the hole he’d made when he crashed landed into the house. “Where are your parents, kid?”

The toddler ignored Tony’s question and stepped forward again, his eyes trained on the arc reactor and its glow.

“Joo boo!”

The boy stepped forwards again, the light from the arc reactor shining over his plump baby cheeks. The blue of the arc reactor tinted his eyes but they were a light color that could be anything from hazel to blue. He stumbled as he took another stepped forward and fell on all fours in front of Tony. As he sat up and sat in front of Tony he sneezed, curly, messy hair flying every which way.

The arc reactor’s light flared through the small hallway as Tony moved away from what could be a disease waiting to happen. The light passed over the toddler again and lit up on a lightning shaped scar on the boy’s forehead.

“You’re not contagious are you? I just got over Pepper’s cold I don’t want to get another one?” The toddler waved at the light and cooed at it. “Where are your parents? I thought this entire place was abandoned. Goes to show what the military knows around here.”

“Boo-oo,” the toddler cooed again and clapped before scooting forward towards Tony.

Rhodey came through the hole in the ceiling just when Tony was beginning to scoot back away from the toddler. It wasn’t like the boy seemed to be any kind of danger at all but ever since he had the arc reactor ripped out he wasn’t going to take any chances with anyone touching it.

**“Tony, are you okay?”**

“Yeah. I thought your air force buddies said this place was abandoned,” Tony said and then pointed at the toddler. The boy’s eyes were big and staring up at War Machine with his mouth hanging open. “There’s someone occupying this house. My suit’s fried, any other life signs that you can find around here? Someone should be missing their kid, right?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for the kudos and bookmarks. I really appreciate it all :D Still not much explanation in this chapter... Though, we do finally get Harry's name!

“What are you talking about?” Rhodey asked as he offered Tony a hand. Tony’s suit made mechanical whirring sounds that didn’t sound as smooth as usual and it really shouldn’t have been as hard as it was to get Tony on his feet.

Tony huffed and stepped aside so that War Machine could see the tiny hallway with the tiny closet. The toddler’s eyes were bigger than they had been earlier and just staring up at the silver and bulky suit, a trail of drool at the corner of his mouth. He twitched back slightly when War Machine’s faceplate hissed and then showed Rhodey’s face.

“Boo!” the little boy shrieked as he pointed from Rhodey to Tony.

“I think he’s saying blue,” Rhodey put in helpfully. He took a step forward, thunking loudly on the wood floor. “Where are your parents, little guy?”

“I think he only knows how to say ‘blue’, though,” Tony supplied helpfully as he began to shed his metal armor. There was no point in carrying the extra weight of the suit around when the suit, or JARVIS for that matter, wasn’t responding. It was probably some glitch or another that he needed to work out since he made his last upgrades after the whole Monaco escapade. “Hey, can you pull my gauntlets so that it can initiate the suit to come off?”

Rhodey glared from where he was crouching to stare at the toddler. He rolled his eyes but stood long enough to yank at Tony’s silver and red arm guards enough that the metal hissed and began to retract from his arms. The chest plate made a grinding noise and moved forward a bit and then stopping three inches from Tony’s body.

“That’s as far as that’s going to get?” Rhodey asked with a frown. “I thought it was automatic.”

“It’s not responding. I thought it was an EMP field that shut down my suit but you’re still functioning so that’s not it,” Tony shrugged. He moved his arms up awkwardly to get his hands on top of the plate to yank down. “It’s not a glitch, either. I rechecked everything after Vanko nearly cut me in half with his stupid whips. Did any of the guys in the air notice some kind of change in energy patterns? I was flying one second and the next I was just falling.”

Rhodey nodded and pointed up at the hole in the ceiling. “I asked them to look around for anyone that would have made you drop like that. The group captain is making sure that this place is actually empty. We can obviously say that there was someone here since there’s a kid here and he couldn’t have gotten here by himself. The closest population is far enough that you’d need a car to even get here.”

Tony yanked at the chest plate again and finally the suit began to retract from his clothes. It was slow going and it kept making whining noises that made Tony cringe and Rhodey to eye him warily.

“Is it just me or is it kinda quiet?” Tony asked as he put the now square metal case on the ground. “Rhodey, where’s the kid?”

Rhodey moved aside and stared at the empty spot where the little boy had been not five minutes ago. Tony walked around him and looked at the closet door warily before peeking inside. He made a strangled noise in the back of his throat as he saw the little kid curled up around a blanket with stars on a cot on the ground. His eyes were closed and he had one fist in his mouth and one socked foot was peeking out of the blanket, twitching every couple of seconds before settling.

“He’s asleep,” Tony murmured and pointed at the closet. “Someone intentionally put a kid in there because there’s a tiny bed in there and I think those are toys around him. Is this place monitored? Is it normal for people to leave kids in abandoned places and, I don’t know, hope for the best or something?”

“I’ll call this in,” Rhodey commented as he lowered his faceplate and moved to the side slightly.

Tony crouched down and looked inside the room. There was a spider crawling in the corner of the closet and a ball of lint or dust or something at the foot of the cot. There was an ugly plush elephant that looked like it had been fighting the ball of lint because it was covered in it. Beside it there was an owl made of black and white polka dots and huge yellow eyes staring at the closet. There were tiny, green army men littering the topside of the closet along with a bunch of broken toys that were probably not a good idea to have around a toddler because of the choking hazard.

“He can’t have been in this place for long,” Rhodey commented as he stepped beside Tony and leaned down to stare into the closet. “It’s the winter and he has no food in there. He wouldn’t have survived long if he had been here longer. He was probably dropped off before we ever got here.”

“Is the air force going to look for his parents or whoever did this?” Tony asked, standing from his position and leaning on the wall directly in front of the closet opening. “This place has no heating,” he continued as he frowned. “He can’t be left here by himself; even I know he’s too puny to do anything other than cry and crawl around.”

“The chopper will drop down in a park not that far from here,” Rhodey said. “We need to get him to a doctor to see if the cold affected him or where he’s from… something,” Rhodey murmured as he put an arm on Tony’s shoulder. “He doesn’t look all that bad and I think we got here before anything too bad could happen to him.”

Tony huffed and ignored the plume of white that curled around his mouth. He took his jacket off and draped it over the sleeping toddler. He made a mewling noise and kicked at the air before curling himself into a ball and ducking his head underneath the jacket.

“We should probably go now, Tony,” Rhodey said and motioned to Tony and then the bundle in closet. “I’ll show you where to go.”

“Wait, what? You want me to carry him?” Tony asked taking a step back away from Rhodey and the closet and straight into the wall. “He was sneezing earlier! What if he’s sick? He could get me sick! I don’t like germs, Rhodey.”

“Tony, pick him up,” Rhodey growled and pointed at the boy. “We’re going to the park and taking the chopper back to the base. We’ll find the boy’s parents and then you can go back to your hotel and make believe this never happened. Maybe you can even figure out why the suit stopped working in the middle of the air,” Rhodey took a breath and frowned at Tony, the worried frowned that Tony had gotten used to after all the years of knowing the man. “What if it had been a longer fall? You could have died, Tony. You need to fix it so that things like that don’t happen again.”

It wasn’t that Tony was afraid of kids as much as he was afraid of getting their illnesses or of getting them sick themselves. Kids had ridiculously bad immune systems and got sick a lot easier than adults and it wasn’t that Tony was a kid or had a ridiculously bad immune system himself but he was an awful sick person. Tony was worse when he was sick than when he was completely and utterly drunk off his ass.

“If I get sick you’re taking care of me,” Tony grumbled and snatched the ugly elephant and the owl and shoved them into Rhodey’s arms. He crouched down and tucked the blanket and the jacket around the toddler to make a baby burrito. The little guy made grumbling noises and poked his head from the blankets to stare at Tony with sleepy green eyes.

“Boo,” he mumbled and plopped his head on Tony’s shoulder. He wiggled on Tony’s shoulder for a second making displeased noises until he managed to get a hand out which he stuck in his mouth.

“I got him,” Tony said, his head as far away as he could keep it from the messy hair tickling his chin. As they made their way to what looked to be the front door, Tony scooted the toddler unto one arm as he walked over to the stairs and picked up the suitcase that the Mark V had turned to.

“Hey, are babies supposed to be this warm?” Tony asked as Rhodey opened the door sharply enough that the doorknob came off and the door swung open with a sharp squeal. “Are you gonna have to pay for that? Just for the record, I didn’t break something this time.”

“You left a hole in the roof,” Rhodey pointed out and Tony made a strangled noise that could have been agreement or knowing Tony probably a comment on how it hadn’t been his fault.

The walk to the park was a lot more horrible than Tony, since the boy had decided to wake up and look around him and because the wind had gotten worse since Tony didn’t have his suit on. Tony got slapped a couple of times in the face with a wet hand only to have the kid stick his hand back in his mouth.

“I hope you know that I’m being slobbered on,” Tony growled as he glared at his best friend and ducked another flying fist trying to make contact with his face. “Do you understand baby talk? He’s been trying to say something but all I got was ‘blue’ and I think ‘bunny’ but I might be reaching here.”

Tony ducked his head and crouched as the blades from the chopper rotated above them. Rhodey threw the two plush toys into the chopper into the waiting arms of one of the pilot officers while another helped Tony get in. War Machine gave a motion and shot up into the sky while Tony got situated into a seat.

He was startled from the noise of the rotors by whimpering and then shrieking. He looked down and stared into scared, watery eyes.

“Hey there, little guy,” one of the men sitting inside the copter said as he moved forward and wiggled the ugly elephant in front of Tony’s face. “Look, here’s the elephant. Come on, look at Mr. Elephant,” the man cooed to stop the crying.

The screaming got worse as the man moved the elephant closer.

“That’s not going to help,” Tony said and bounced his leg, hoping that it’d do something about the screaming and the tears streaming down the pink cheeks. “Hey, shh,” Tony tried as he kept bouncing his leg. He rummaged in his pants’ pocket until he found what he was looking for. “Hey, kiddo, you want some blueberries? See, blueberries,” Tony shook the plastic package in front of the tiny splotchy face.

“Boo-boo, boo-oo,” the little boy cooed while rubbing his face on Tony’s shirt. He left a trail of snot and tears and just shrieked into Tony’s shoulder harder. He took a deep breath with a hiccup and settled his head down to continue crying a little quieter.

“They’re really good,” Tony tried again as he took one out and presented it to the quivering lips. “Yum-yum,” Tony said and then stopped himself when he backtracked to what he just said. “I can’t believe I just said ‘yum-yum’ to get a kid to eat blueberries.”

The crying stopped long enough for the little boy to lean forward and nibbled the blueberry. He gave a gasping little breath and took another nibble of the remaining blueberry, catching Tony’s fingertips on the last nibble.

“See, I told you blueberries are good,” Tony grinned as he took another one out and presented it. “Point for me for carrying snacks in my pockets. In your face, Pepper,” Tony said with a grin and popped another blueberry into the eager mouth.

“Boo-beh-ee,” the little boy cooed while he chewed with his mouth wide open. “Boo-beh-ee!”

“That’s right, blueberry,” Tony smiled. 

“What’s your name, little fella?” one of the men asked as he sat forward and stared at the open-mouthed chewing going on on Tony’s lap. “I’m Ian.”

“Ee-ah!”

“That’s right,” the man said with a grin. “What’s your name?”

“A-wee!”

“A-wee,” Ian frowned and looked up at Tony as he fed another blueberry to the toddler. “Harry? Your name is Harry?”

“A-wee!” He squealed as blue drool dripped down the side of his mouth. “A-wee, A-wee, A-wee!”

“I guess his name is Harry,” Tony said conversationally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Possible, almost international incidents in the next chapter... probably.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies if everything is a bit wonky grammar/spelling wise. I've decided to make this my NaNo project, I hope you all don't mind.

They landed back at Northolt within twenty minutes and Tony managed to get Harry asleep through the noise of the rotors and through Tony’s inexperienced handling and occasional leg bouncing. Harry had his left thumb in his mouth and his right arm around Tony’s neck clutching at the hair curling on the older man’s nape. If tony so much as moved the wrong way Harry would tug on the hair and make displeased noises.

The landing was made without much fanfare and they made it inside to be met with the people in charge. They kept asking questions about what exactly had happened and in the end nothing much was accomplished.

Tony was sent to the medic bay to make sure that Harry hadn’t suffered due to the cold and because when one of the airmen had tried to take him away from Tony he had taken a good fistful of hair and the shrieking and crying was bad enough to startle the airman into nearly dropping the kid.

The medical bay was standard issue with cots set up for the injured, not necessarily state of the art since any bad enough injuries would be dealt with at a hospital. The doctor was an old man name Henry Todd that kept giving Tony funny looks with his shaggy eyebrows bouncing every once in a while whenever Harry tried to move away from the stethoscope.

“First time that anyone’s ever brought a child to be seen by me,” the doctor commented as Harry grabbed the stethoscope and promptly put it in his mouth. “Has he shown any signs of discomfort since you found him, Mr. Stark? Asked for his parents, perhaps? Said anything other than his name?”

Tony untangled the stethoscope while the older man talked and handed it back without much fuss. “He babbles a lot but I think that’s a baby thing, right? We figured that his name is Harry because of what he said but I don’t talk baby so that could be entirely wrong. He likes repeating things and he sneezed a couple of times.”

Dr. Todd nodded and lifted Harry’s blue shirt to listen to his heart. Harry giggled but settled back against Tony’s chest while the doctor did his business. He stretched out Harry’s legs and watched for their reaction while making note of it absently. Dr. Todd’s bushy eyebrows rose higher than they had in their visit when he rolled away to his desk to look for a scope to look at Harry’s eyes and ears.

“He’s a bit dehydrated and underfed but other than that he’s in excellent condition. I’d say he’s around seventeen to eighteen months old,” Dr. Todd commented while trying to get a look at the ugly scar that Harry had on his forehead. “This scar concerns me. It’s healed well enough but I’m concerned as to how he got it in the first place. It looks to have been carved there purposely and let to heal by itself. There’s no sign of infection around it, which is a good thing, but there were no efforts to use medicinal aids to make it better either.”

“You think his parents did this?” Tony asked as he wiggled his fingers for Harry to entertain himself with. The ugly elephant and the owl had been confiscated by one of the airmen to see if they could find any clue as to whom Harry’s guardians were. So far there had been no clues and a missing person’s search had been started to see if Harry had been pronounced missing or not.

“There’s no way of knowing who did without finding his guardians and asking and even then there’s no hope of getting an honest answer out of them,” Dr. Todd said calmly. “There’s still trying to figure out how anyone got into the abandoned part of Surrey without alerting anyone. For all that the place is abandoned there’re always teenagers daring each other to spend the night in the place. It’s become a right of passage of sorts to spend the night in one of the houses. Could be that a teen mother ran away from home and decided to sleep in one of the houses and left her child behind.

“Frankly at this point we have no idea who this little guy is or who his parents are. He has excellent motor skills for his expected age though his cognitive development is a bit worrying there’s nothing to worry about. Has he shown any interest in finding where his mum or dad are? Has he asked for anyone in particular?”

“Nope. I can tell you that he knows his colors, though,” Tony said with a small shrug. “It’s mostly baby babble with the occasional understandable word thrown in.”

“It’s best to take him to the technicians so that they can do a face recognition and can tell us whether or not his parents filed a missing person’s report or a kidnapping report,” Dr. Todd said taking his latex gloves off. “It’s just unnerving that a child was abandoned in a place like Surrey in this weather without anyone else knowing about it,” he sighed and hoisted himself off the chair with some difficulty around his round belly. “Let’s get you two to the technicians, then.”

*

Rhodey met them in the room with the technicians with a small wave and a hello to Harry. They had already started with the face recognition and the missing person fliers to make sure to go through all the avenues to find Harry’s missing parents (or quite possibly his neglectful parents). A technician stood from her seat by a computer and stepped forward just as Harry threw himself at Rhodey with a delighted squeal.

“Sir, does the child have any defining features? There have been no hits so far but we can narrow down the search if there’s anything significant about the child,” the technician said as she took a step forward and then back when Harry began to flail his arms around Rhodey with his excited squeals.

Tony frowned and looked around him towards Dr. Todd but the older heavyset man was nowhere in the room. He looked over to the happy Harry and the smiling Rhodey.

“He has a scar on his forehead,” Tony said and pointed to Harry’s fringe. “Wouldn’t it be better to just take a photo of him and then look it up for like searches on the databases?”

The technician looked at Tony as if she thought he was missing a couple of bolts in his brain or that he was obviously too stupid to understand how a search was made in the database.

“He’s kinda cute,” Rhodey said with a grin as Harry blue raspberries at the air and giggled. “They’ve been doing the search to look for his parents but nothing’s come up. You think you can help them out?”

“Turn him around and move his hair back so I can take a proper picture of him,” Tony instructed as he took out his phone and pointed it at Rhodey and Harry. “I’ll do a general search for him and that should give me everything that we need. If he’s in the system to begin with.”

Rhodey nodded and moved Harry around to face Tony. He made a delighted sound at Tony but squirmed about when Rhodey reached for his hair to move it back. He slapped at Rhodey’s hand when Rhodey tried again again.

“No!”

“Just for a second,” Tony wheedled as he moved his body and then the phone to make sure that Harry was still in the frame. “Just one tiny picture, Harry, and then you can go right back to drooling all over Rhodey. One tiny… picture. HA!”

“You get it?” Rhodey asked as he bounced Harry up and down to calm him from his ruffled hair. All the manhandling had left Harry’s hair even messier than it had been before with little spikes sticking up from his fringe, letting the scar peek through but not show entirely. “Tony, you better have gotten it. I rather deal with you complaining about your stupid suit than calm down a toddler when his hair’s been messed with.”

Tony waved his phone to the screens that were doing the search for Harry and sent the information to them and turned back around to Rhodey with a raised brow of confusion. “Don’t you have like five nephews? How old are they? Like five, six?”

“I have two nephews and they’re thirteen and fifteen,” Rhodey said with a roll of his eyes and slapped the back of Tony’s head. “I wasn’t around for the terrible twos so this is different for me. Christine said that Sean had tantrums all the time.”

“Well, he doesn’t seem so bad,” Tony said, he gave a shrug directed at Harry and dodged a flailing arm. “He just doesn’t like it when you touch his hair. Something everyone should keep in mind; I don’t like it when anyone touches my hair, either.”

Harry flailed his arms again towards Tony and stared at him hopefully. “Up, up, up. Boo, me up!”

“I think he wants you to hold him now,” Rhodey said. Harry waved at Tony and grabbed for him eagerly. “Here you go, Tony.”

As soon as Harry was in Tony’s arm he held his usual position of one arm wrapped around Tony’s neck with his tiny fingers tangled in the short hair. Harry smiled brightly at Tony, his little teeth visible in his delight, and settled his head on the older man’s shoulder. Tony huffed and moved over to a rolling chair by one of the computers to see the progress of the recognition program. The technicians were looking at the faces flashing through the program and all the individuals that were dismissed completely. 

“It’s already gone through the missing person’s,” one of the technicians said and tried to type some new commands but the program was still going despite the typing. “I think it’s hacking through everything.”

“Just face recognition worldwide,” Tony said. He was flipping through files on his phone awkwardly with Harry on one arm. “The kid’s probably been in some type of camera somewhere at some time so his face will show up eventually, right?”

The technician looked skeptical but looked to the screens with the information they needed to make facial recognition possible. The program had been hacking through CCTV all over the UK and had found some people that looked a lot like Harry that it then deposited into another screen as it continued to circuit through more and more people through the program.

Tony scooted over to one of the computers and typed one handed to show the photos of the people caught in the recognition program to appear on the big screen in the room so that everyone could see it. The program was still working in the background, every couple of seconds depositing a new photo onto the computer that Tony was working on.

“This guy always shows up,” Tony said as he enlarged more photos that the program was depositing. “It’s always the same person as far as I can tell. There’s no way that it’s Harry, he’s a man for one. Maybe that’s his dad or uncle or something,” he continued as he moved aside and let the technician type away at the computer to get more images up. “This guy is everywhere. Can this specific program pinpoint who he is or whether or a driver’s license or something?”

“The program is getting images from CCTV from all over the UK and there are a lot of those,” the female technician said as the program deposited more files into the computer. “This bloke probably travels a lot and that’s why he’s showing up all over the place. The program is looking through data that’s at least ten years old. This could be anyone at this point.”

“This guy has the same scar that Harry does, though,” Tony enlarged one more image of the green eyed bespectacled man smiling, the wind had ruffled his hair back so that the same scar that was showing on Harry was showing on the man. “This guy could be his dad for all we know. Maybe it’s like a weird initiation thing to cut a kid’s forehead or something to have freaky scars like that. It’s exactly the same one that Harry has except maybe this guy’s scar is a lot older. Are there any cults that cut kids’ foreheads open around here?”

The technician raised a brow at the question but moved to another computer to type another search parameter. “The lightning bolt isn’t all that significant at all. There are some old writings that could make it mean ‘sowilo’ it’s the sign of the sun in old Runes. According to this article it’s for taking action and for confidence and for success,” the technician paused and frowned as she continued through the search parameters again to get something more specific. “There’s nothing here about branding anyone with the rune, though, so I don’t know how it’s going to be much help.”

“I think the search parameters have to be changed again,” Tony commented lightly and scooted over to the technician’s earlier vacated computer terminal to type up new parameters to search. “Let’s see if we can find anyone named Harry with this scar on his forehead in the system. If there’s two people with it then it can’t be a coincidence and there’s probably more out there somewhere.”

The technician nodded her head in approval and began to get rid of the previous results for the initial parameters. With the new parameters the program began to deposit new information into the abandoned screens. This time records began to appear along with the previous pictures.

“Harry James Potter,” Tony read the birth certificate blown up in front of him. The Harry on his lap looked up at the name and smiled brightly at Tony. “There’s no way that this is you. This guy is nearly thirty years old!”


	4. Chapter 4

"Tony, Air Vice-Marshal Appelstein says that they're going to keep Harry on base until his parents are located," Rhodey said as he came up behind Tony's chair. Harry batted at his hand while Tony just gaped at the large screen with the information on Harry James Potter.

Tony frowned and just continued to type his way through more and more papers that kept showing up on this person. Harry giggled as Rhodey wiggled his fingers and tried to chomp on Harry's nose much to his delighted squeals as he tried to get away but still bat at the fingers as they made their way towards him.

"Hey, Rhodey, can you explain this to me?" Tony asked as he pointed to the screen and settled Harry on his lap when he started to slip off as he launched himself at Rhodey's hand. "How is it possible that a twenty-nine year old man that looks just like Harry, down to the green eyes and scar carved on his forehead, exist? His father? Uncle?"

"Maybe he's the father?" Rhodey suggested and nodded towards the pictures showing up. "Who are those people at the wedding there?"

Tony backtracked the pictures he was scrolling through and went back a couple of pages to a marriage certificate for James and Lily Potter performed in London. The man looked a bit like the Harry James Potter from the pictures except his hair was a shade lighter and his eyes were a different color. James Potter also stood much taller than what Harry James did.

"Mama!" Harry shrieked as he launched himself into the air towards the picture. "Mama!"

Rhodey looked from Tony to Harry and then back at the screen. "They named both their kids the same?"

"Maybe this older guy died and little Harry is the younger brother?" Tony said as he bounced Harry up and down. "Maybe you're a clone. Did your parents clone you to replace an older version of you, Harry?"

Harry's head cocked to the side in confusion and then pointed at the screen and screamed 'Mama' again with a radiant smile.

"I don't think his parents cloned him. I don't even think cloning is possible yet, Tony," Rhodey said with a put-upon sigh at his friend's antics.

"They died the 31st of October of 1981; here's the death certificate from the local coroner for the village of Godric's Hollow," the technician said as she put up another certificate. "They were interred in the village cemetery on the fifth of November of that same year. They had a son, Harry James Potter—"

"Hi!"

The technician blinked at the interruption but shook her head and backtracked to what she was saying earlier. "Harry James Potter was born the 31st of July of 1980 and his guardianship status changes on the 2nd of November of 1981 to Petunia and Vernon Dursley of #4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey."

"Hey, wasn't the place we were just at?" Tony interrupted before the technician could continue with what she was saying. He looked over to Rhodey and the man was frowning, his eyes glaring into the big screen. "Little Whinging is just where we were at earlier today, right?"

Rhodey nodded at the question and looked down at Harry. "#4 Privet Drive is the house that you crashed into, Tony."

"Well, shi—ow, Rhodey!" Tony glared at his friend and rubbed at the back of his head while Harry giggled. "So, this is kind of weird now."

"We have pictures of Potter growing up because of school pictures," the technician said and typed away at the keyboard to put up the aforementioned pictures. "The face recognition has hits on a woman's Facebook album of her student's throughout the last thirty-five years. The program recognizes either little Harry's face on the pictures or it recognizes this older version of Harry because it's getting hits left and right. The youngest one is from her Nursery class when he was about three or four."

They all stared at the screen as it showed a picture of Harry playing with blocks and of a bunch of kids around the same age playing with toys of all kinds. The boy looked exactly like the Harry sitting on Tony's lap except that he was maybe a year older at best.

"That kid looks exactly like Harry," Tony said to the room in general. "How is it possible for this guy to look exactly like this Harry? I'm telling you, Rhodey, Harry is obviously the clone to this older Harry right here! It's not humanly possible to look just like this guy without being twins and this guy is too old to be a twin."

"Calm down, Tony," Rhodey ordered while he eyed the technician cross herself and scoot away from Tony and by association Harry as well. "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation why this is going on."

"There is an explanation for it, of course," a large man boomed as he walked into the room and stared at the screen and then at Harry. "It's highly classified information, Mr. Stark, and I'll have to ask you to hand over the child now."

"Did you find his parents?" Tony asked, Harry was clutching at his shirt like a lifeline and the large man was eyeing the interaction with a raised brow. "Can the air force even take custody of a kid without his parents?"

"Mr. Stark, the situation with the child has become something that has to be dealt with immediately," the man continued. "You don't understand the actions that have to be taken in order to even have him here. If it had been up to someone else it's possible that he'd be sent somewhere where his uniqueness wouldn't be as appreciated as they would be with us."

"I don't even know who you are!" Tony yelled and scooted away from the man, his arm tightening around Harry's small chest. "What do you mean his uniqueness would be appreciated with you people? Is that code for something? Is the kid a mutant?"

The man made a noise in the back of his throat at the word mutant and looked at Tony in disgust. "I'm Air Vice-Marshal Appelstein. I'd appreciate it if you didn't use such vile words as mutants in my presence. The child is nothing like those… creatures; he is merely an asset of the Royal Air Force. Failing to hand him over will result in you being thrown in jail, Mr. Stark, and forcibly deported."

"Do you even know how to take care of a kid?" Tony growled, this time standing up from the chair and glaring at the larger and older man. The ribbons and medals on his uniform would probably have already tipped the man ass over teakettle if it wasn't for his abnormally large beak of a nose.

"Do you?" Appelstein shot back with a death glare. "The child is to go to RAF custody effective immediately."


	5. Chapter 5

"I don't think so, buddy," Tony growled and hoisted Harry higher on his arms. "You don't just go about saying babies are 'assets' while in the same breath you're putting down mutants."

Rhodey made a motion behind Appelstein. It was probably a motion to stop Tony in his tracks and to keep him from talking any more. There were already some SFs gathering at the doors more than likely ready to eject Tony from the base at the word of the Vice-Marshall. It was probably a good idea to stop him from talking but it seemed the damage had already been done as Tony was already taking out his phone.

"I'm getting in touch with the UN and having a talk with them about how the Royal Air Force is using babies as assets," Tony said as he brandished his phone and clutched at Harry tighter. "I'm sure they'd love to hear what your plans are for someone that can't even say his own name. I don't give a rat's ass if you don't like mutants or anything like that but when you go around saying that a child is an asset there's obviously something wrong with you."

"Look here, Stark," Appelstein shouted over Tony as he took a menacing step forward. "I don't care who you're talking to on the other end of that phone. The boy is to go to RAF custody."

"I'm going to tell everyone that you experiment on babies," Tony hissed and moved to the side of the enraged man. "You can't make your own weapons or can't get someone to make the weapons for you so you experiment on babies and leave them in the middle of an abandoned town in the winter. I'm sure the reporters would love that. RAF Experiments On Babies. It'll be all over the news. You'll be known all over the world as something beneath dirt for what you've done and the queen is going to be pissed at you for besmirching her air force."

The hold that Harry had on the back of Tony's hair intensified when Appelstein took another step forward and Tony brandished his phone to show that he was already dialing. Harry made a disgruntled noise and hid his face in Tony's neck.

"The boy is a citizen of the United Kingdom, Stark. You can't take him anywhere," the man hissed and stood his ground. "You have no say in what happens to him. The RAF could chop him up into tiny little pieces and you wouldn't have a say in it because this is none of your business."

"I'm sorry what was that?" Tony asked as he flicked at his phone and showed the screen back to the shocked crew around him. He flicked one more button and Appelstein's voice echoed around all the speakers in the room.

_The boy is a citizen of the United Kingdom, Stark. The RAF could chop him up into tiny little pieces and you wouldn't have a say in it because this is none of your business._

The technicians stared between Tony and Appelstein and several took steps back from their computers. The SFs by the door were shifting around, their hands itching towards the nightsticks by their sides. The proclamation from their Vice-Marshal startled some of them and they were looking around trying to figure out what would be the best course of action to take for something like this.

"You're saying he's a UK citizen but you don't know that. He could be the kid of a tourist for all you know," Tony said and glared. "He was found in an abandoned town in the middle of winter obviously left to die because I'm pretty sure not even and adult could live through this weather. Their chances of survival drops significantly when there is no food or water for them to drink in the first place."

"You don't have the full story, Stark," Appelstein tried to reason, but he did not move from where he was standing. The man's face had already gone several shades of white and red and was fast moving towards the purples and blues. "There is a reason why the child cannot go with you. You would not be able to meet his needs as he grows. There are just some things that even you, the so-called 'harbinger of peace', cannot safely take care of. The boy is part of something so much bigger than you or me, Stark, and I cannot allow you to take him anywhere with you."

Tony looked at Harry and then over to Appelstein. "What exactly are you talking about? 'Something bigger' can be a lot of things. The kid could be the incubator for some new disease, which by the way, shame on you if that's what it is. He could be a clone of that older guy up there. Maybe an agent of yours that you need to ask questions to. He could be the cure for cancer and the scion of world peace, Appelstein, but that does not excuse you turning a baby into an asset for any military. I'll be taking Harry with me if it's the last thing I do. If any of you try to stop me there will be dire consequences, not only from me but from a lot of other people as well."

As Tony passed Rhodey he gave him a smile and a nod and stood in front of the shifty SFs with a raised brow. "Shoo," he said while waiving his hand from side to side to make them move from their position. "I don't like repeating myself."

The SFs looked at each other and then behind Tony for some type of confirmation from their commanding officer.

"Let him go."

Tony smirked at the men as he walked by them.

"Bye bye!" Harry shrieked as he waived behind him to Rhodey and the technicians in the room.

*

Tony stared at the woman in front of him and then over to Happy and the car and frowned.

"A car seat?"

"Yes," the woman said with a roll of her eyes as she crossed her arms over her ample chest and kept him from moving towards his car. "I can't, on good conscience, let you leave with the boy without a car seat, Mr. Stark."

Harry was playing with the zipper of his newly acquired parka with a fur trim on the hood. Dr. Todd had stopped Tony and his new charge as they were leaving and handed over the parka with a stern look and told the younger man to keep Harry warm. The nurse, Jane, maybe Janet, or quite possibly Joanne, Tony didn't rightfully remember what she introduced herself as, had come out of nowhere and demanded where the car seat was for travel.

"Look, I'm going to buy one the second I get to a store," Tony said and tried to keep the fur of the coat out of his face. "Obviously I didn't bring one with me since he wasn't with me. Talk to the doctor if you have some issue."

With that said, Tony swirled around her and made his way to the passenger side of the car with a waiving Harry on his arm. The nurse made spluttering noises and was about to follow after him but thought better of it and just watched them get in the car.

"Do you think there are kids' stores open up at this hour, Hap? I need to get a car seat," Tony said in greeting as Happy opened the passenger side door.

"We can see," Happy said as he got in and started the car, making sure the heating was hitting Tony's side of the car. "Boss, you know I have nothing negative to say about you or what you do, but…"

"You think Pepper is gonna be pissed that I got into a fight with the Royal Air Force?" Tony interrupted as he rummaged for something to eat inside the dashboard. He managed to find two granola bars and opened one up quickly and gave it to Harry while he took a bite out of the other bar. "And that I have Harry?"

"Where did you get Harry from?"

"I found him," Tony answered around a mouthful. "The RAF tried to keep him because he's an asset," his lips curled at the word and gave Happy a look. "Have you ever heard of a 17 month old baby as an 'asset' to any military facility, Happy? Are these people completely insane? I don't care how high up in the ladder these nutjobs are I don't think it's ethical to have a baby be an asset to an organization that goes out in the world to blow up other people."

Happy raised a brow and was about to open his mouth when Tony gave him a look and swiped at the crumbs collecting on Harry's parka collar.

"I only blow up the people that deserve it," Tony said and then gave Happy another look when the man was about to open his mouth again. "And I don't think babies are assets to be used on the whim of the military."

"What are you going to do with him?" Happy asked as he eyed the green eyes staring at him and Harry's dimples as he grinned toothily up at him.

"How hard can it be to take care of a baby?"

*

Tony barely got into the hotel room before Pepper was up and coming towards him like the wrath of hell.

"Rhodey called me to tell me that you got into a fight with a royal air force vice-marshal," she said as she crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently in front of the man.

Harry had fallen asleep halfway to the hotel and was contentedly drooling all over Tony's shoulder so he probably wasn't even aware of Pepper's ire. Lucky guy.

"That snitch," Tony hissed and made his way over to the couch. "Yeah, I got into a fight with the man about the air force's policy on using babies as assets and I won. This is Harry, by the way."

"You took a baby from the air force? Are you insane? No, don't answer that. You've obviously lost your mind and you're taking me down with you," she said loud enough that Tony knew she was angry but not so loud that it woke Harry. "I don't know how you can make these decisions and not think about the consequences, Tony."

"He was cute and small and Appelstein made me angry," Tony shrugged and nearly woke Harry with his jostling. "I recorded what he said to show you that I'm not doing this just to do it. Appelstein is insane and he had some plans for Harry that didn't involve growing up to be a lawyer or whatever."

"Tony, you don't even know how to take care of a child," Pepper said with a deep sigh. "I'll talk to as many people as possible to make sure that you don't turn this into an international incident and get us all arrested."

"It can't be that difficult to take care of a kid," Tony said and lowered Harry to the couch to take his parka off. "If I get stuck I can always Google it and I can hire professionals, Pepper."

"You should know that babies wet the bed unless you train them to use the bathroom," Pepper commented as she took out her phone and left the room without a backwards glance. "I'm going to try to diffuse this as much as possible and we'll talk in the morning about Harry."

Tony took out his phone and quickly dialed Happy to see about getting diapers for Harry. There was no way he was going to have to deal with a wet baby. In the morning he'll deal with clothes and everything else babies needed. There was no way that Tony was going to leave Harry to the evil clutches of the RAF or to anyone else for that matter. Tony found Harry all alone in an abandoned house so he gets to keep him fair and square.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Fruit Ninja, though I have almost dropped my sister's iPad many times while playing it. 
> 
> All adoption information is taken from gov.uk/child-adoption/overview. Some of it it is made up and some of it is directly from them. I recently read a fic wherein Tony adopted Harry and it was a one day deal when I know that it doesn't happen like that no matter how much money you have. Just because you have money doesn't mean you'll get a kid.

"I don't mean to burst your bubble but there are a lot of laws concerning adoptions, Tony," Pepper said first thing in the morning while he was eating breakfast. "In the US alone it takes at minimum six months to even be approved to become an adoptive parent. In the UK it can take up to eight months."

Tony looked up from his eggs and frowned. "Can't you just pick a kid you want and pay adoption fees?"

"This isn't a dog we're talking about, Tony," she chided and sat across from him. "Even the adoption process for a dog doesn't happen in one day in most places. The fact of the matter is that you probably won't be able to take Harry with you back to Malibu or New York at the end of the week."

"Can't you pay someone to move the process along, though?"

Pepper passed him the bowl full of fruit and sighed. "No, Tony, I can't. The approval is mostly to figure out if the adopting parents are capable of taking care of a child; whether or not they're financially able. They also check criminal records and the UK asks for three references to show that you're capable of being a parent."

"You can't fast track that part? It's not that hard to see that I'm financially able and to check my criminal records," Tony said with a roll of his eyes. "I'm pretty sure you can just check it on the Internet anyway."

"There's also the fact that there are waiting lists for potential adoptive parents," Pepper said with a resigned sigh. "You can't decide to adopt Harry on a whim."

Tony leaned back in his chair, pushing aside the breakfast and looking over to the open bedroom to Harry curled up in the middle. "What if I already went through the approval process?"

"Then it'd take about ten to twelve weeks for everything to be finalized," Pepper said and took out some sheets of papers from the folder sticking out of her purse. "But you need to be approved first and go through all the check lists before that ever happens. Some people wait five years before they're ever approved or even seen by an adoption court, Tony. This is not going to happen from one day to the next."

"I was already approved."

"What? When were you approved?" The papers that were in Pepper's hands slowly slid to the table, blotting up oil from the eggs and water from the fruits at the revelation. "When did you apply to be an adoptive parent?"

"Just before you started working for me. Ten years ago?" Tony answered with a shrug. "It took a year and a half to get approved by some adoption agencies. They send me profiles of kids every once in a while to make sure I'm still interested. They stopped coming after Afghanistan but came back again after the whole saving New York thing from Vanko and Hammer's stupidity."

"You're approved to adopt kids?! I didn't even know you wanted kids," She exclaimed just as Tony was about to leave the room to go wake up Harry for breakfast. "How come I didn't know about this?"

"It was a closed thing. I paid a lot of people to keep it quiet," Tony grumbled. "It's not that I wanted kids ten years ago or anything like that it's just that I wanted the possibility of them some day is all. There are age restrictions in some places for adoptions you know."

"I'd thought you'd get married one day and _have_ kids," she tried to explain as she followed after him and stared at the sleeping baby. "Adoption never even crossed my mind. I mean, I even figured you'd already have some kids somewhere out there in the world with the amount of—of," she made a motion with her arm to clearly symbolize all the womanizing Tony had done in his forty-one years.

"Can you imagine me bringing a kid into the world?" Tony said and then cocked his head to the side. "One of me is good enough. We don't need a tiny version of me running around and breaking people's hearts, Pepper."

Pepper huffed and tried to understand all that she had just been told but couldn't really wrap her head around the fact that Tony "genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist" Stark wanted to adopt children. She couldn't comprehend that Tony wanted to adopt children even during his days as a party animal. It was something that just didn't compute in her head whatsoever.

"You've wanted kids all this time?" Pepper asked as Tony came out of the room with a sleepy-eyed toddler in his arms. "Since when have you even been interested in children, Tony? You never gave any indication that you'd want one or that you'd want to adopt. There were no clues."

"My favorite color is apple green," Tony said as if it answered all of Pepper's questions. "You don't see that written down or spoken about anywhere do you? It's just something that is; I don't talk about everything in my life, Pep."

"But an interest in a _child_ , Tony, is not something you keep quiet," Pepper said.

"It is if I don't want the kid to get kidnapped."

Pepper took a deep breath and thought about it while Tony settled back at the small table. "You're right. Kidnapping would be a big possibility if you were to ever have a kid or if you would adopt. You're a big name in the world and a child of yours would be ideal for kidnapping attempts. I'll talk to our lawyers and contact them about getting you an adoption court order with a London based Family Proceedings Court. We want to keep this as hush-hush as possible to prevent any accidents. We'll also have to hire a nanny, live-in, you think?"

"Not live-in," Tony groaned as he stared up at Pepper. "I had live-in nannies and I hated them all. Someone who is willing to travel because of the international meetings we have. Preferably someone with a college degree that is certified in CPR and first aid. They would have to have extensive background checks before they start. I don't want anyone from SHIELD sticking their nose into this or anyone that could have worked for any of the other companies I had weapons' contracts with."

Pepper nodded as she took out the electronic pad from her purse and began to tap the instructions and lists that she needed to make all of this possible for Tony and Harry. "We'll need to also hire security to prevent kidnappings, like you said. The security we have now is fine for us but we'll want to raise security for Harry. Security that can't be seen would probably be best."

"Child proofing the house," Tony suggested as he brought a spoonful of eggs to an eager mouth. "Do you think we can get away with child proofing the Tower?"

"No," Pepper said drily as she gave him a look. "The living spaces will be child proofed but the rest of the Tower is for business. It wouldn't make sense to have child rails in the R&D department if Harry isn't going to be in it."

"I could program safety features into JARVIS," Tony suggested. "JARVIS would be the best nanny, admit it."

"JARVIS is an AI, Tony. He doesn't even have arms," Pepper said and tapped some more into her tablet. "I just got an e-mail from one of the lawyers. He's drawing up forms to see how fast it can be done but he says that you might have to live here for a while before you can get the adoption finalized. What I said earlier about the ten weeks might be closer to what would be expected from you."

"Around two and a half months?" Tony asked and then looked out at the drab day. "I'd be here until the end of February, Pepper. The weather here sucks. Are you sure they can't move it along?"

"They did. For something like this it'd take at least six months. Be lucky you already had everything ready and that he was abandoned," she chastised and handed over the sippy cup with orange juice over to the reaching tiny hands.

"Ask him to try for less time. I don't want to be here during cold and flu season," Tony whined as he looked outside again. "He sneezed yesterday, Pepper. What if he's infected with something?"

"Did the base doctor say there was anything wrong with him?" Pepper tried to reason while pushing the bowl of fruit closer to Harry.

"I don't think he was a children's doctor."

"I'll get everything settled with the courts and getting you forms and a birth certificate," she said as she stood from the table and ruffled Harry's hair with a smile. "Try to not corrupt him while I get everything ready."

"Say bye to Pepper, Harry. Even though she is absolutely no help with your possibly infected self. You'll cause the next zombie apocalypse with your sneezes, I'm sure."

"Bye bye!"

*

 

Tony looked up from the diaper he was trying to fasten to Harry's wriggling butt as Pepper came into the room with Happy in tow. He had already been peed on earlier when he had tried to change the toddler's diaper but he had apparently not been done and had ended up showering Tony. A bubble filled bath time later, Tony tried it again and Harry would not stop his wiggling about.

"I'm almost done," Tony said to the room at large but mostly to Harry since the wiggling seemed to have increased along with the giggles. "No naked time. If I'm not allowed to have naked time neither are you."

"Tony, I talked to the lawyers and they said they'll give you an estimation of how long this is all going to take within twenty-four hours. As it is, you might have to wait a while to get all the forms," Pepper said flatly and grinned when Harry tried to sit up and Tony pushed him back down.

"Did you get the picture I sent you?" Tony asked instead and finally managed the last sticky flap. "He took a handful out of my plate and just shoved it in his face. It was pretty cute."

Pepper showed Tony the screen to her StarkPhone and the other man grinned. Harry has been smiling toothily at the camera with spaghetti and noodles covering his face when Tony had taken the picture. "How was bath time?"

"We had to deal with it twice," Tony grumbled and didn't bother with the pants since Harry was already running over to Pepper and Happy. "At least he knows how to aim."

Pepper's nose wrinkled but the corners of her mouth were already twitching at Tony's misfortune. She grinned down at Harry and put out her arms for him to walk into, which he did eagerly. Happy raised a brow but presented Harry with a stuffed white rabbit and a green bow.

Harry curled his entire tiny body around Pepper, with the stuffed rabbit between them.

"Don't forget to say 'thank you' to Happy for the bunny, Harry," Pepper said as she turned on the side for Harry to see Happy.

Harry's head twisted around and he already had one of the ears in his mouth. "Tankoo"

"You're welcome," Happy said with a smile and ruffled the soft hair.

"Boo, Boo!" Harry called and flapped his arms towards Tony.

"I'm coming," Tony said with an indulgent smile. He plucked Harry from Pepper's arms and Harry rubbed his cheeks against his stubble.

"Ook, bun-buns," Harry said cheerfully, presenting the stuffed rabbit to Tony with a toothy smile. "Tankoo bun-buns."

Tony raised a brow as Harry then proceeded to stuff the ear back into his mouth, babbling around it happily. Once he had the ear firmly in his mouth he curled his arms around Tony and curled his fingers in the hair in the back of his head.

"Is this a thing?" Tony asked Harry as he tried to move his head away but Harry whined and clutched at the hair tighter. "Pepper, he already has a thing. I'm gonna go bald in the back."

"It's kinda cute, though," Pepper said as she turned Tony over and tried to unlatch Harry's tiny little claws from digging in. "He'll let go eventually when he gets tired. He should be asleep by now."

"Don't babies usually take naps?" Tony grumbled and scooted Harry higher up his chest. "Harry's been dancing and running around all day. I need another tablet," Tony said without preamble and as if he had been talking about technology the entire time. Pepper raised a brow and Tony pointed to the table that they had eaten breakfast at. "We were playing Fruit Ninja and Harry was trying to cut open a pomegranate and it flew across the room and crashed into the wall."

Happy stared at the cracked screen and showed it to Pepper.

"Are you using him as a scapegoat, Tony?" Pepper asked with a raised brow and hands on her hips.

"No, that's what happened," Tony said and glared at the tablet. "Fruit Ninja is a full contact sport, Pep. If you don't slash those pomegranates within five seconds you lose a good amount of points. Harry was just a bit too enthusiastic with the slashing and it fell."

Pepper sighed and took the tablet from Happy. "At least it wasn't your phone this time. Maybe you shouldn't download Fruit Ninja anymore. It's just fruit not the new specs to something you've been trying to figure out."

"You get mad when I throw things when I'm inventing," Tony said matter-of-factly.

"That's because you go through tech faster than you can build it or it can be manufactured," Pepper said with a roll of her eyes. "No more Fruit Ninja for you two. Download a drawing game or something. That way Harry can be artistic and you can draw out plans for things."

"Whatever," Tony grumbled. "Not letting me play Fruit Ninja. Who does she think she is?" he continued as he went over to the bedroom and dumped his little bundle in the middle of the bed. Harry made a disgruntled noise of displeasure and clutched at air. He curled around the rabbit and settled into the bed.

Harry would be his in no time if the lawyers would just hurry things along. Hopefully there wouldn't be any problems and he'd just be able to take the little boy with him. He wasn't particularly sure how exactly the green-eyed toddler had crawled all over his every thought and how exactly he had managed to attach himself so thoroughly.

**Author's Note:**

> It will eventually be explained how Harry is the age he is and why no one is looking for him.


End file.
